Doctor Who_ Bad Therapy - Matthew Jones [64]
To the Doctor, her voice sounded artificially neutral, as if she were trying to prevent herself expressing strong feelings.
In a high-backed orthopaedic chair next to the bed, someone had placed a life-size doll. It was blank-faced, like a giant artist’s mannequin. It made an absurd hospital visitor. The Doctor moved forward to investigate it, but Julia held him back.
‘Watch,’ she said.
The boy’s face twitched as he began to stir. The mannequin jerked into life as if struck by a bolt of electricity. Moving more slowly, it leant forward and began to stroke Benjamin’s hair.
‘Ben was a manic depressive who suffered intense panic attacks,’ Julia said, quietly.
‘Was?’ the Doctor asked.
Julia didn’t respond to this remark.
As the boy woke, the mannequin by his side began to develop the features of a young human male. The blank-faced doll was now a fresh-faced, care-free teenager; perhaps two years older than the boy in the bed.
‘Hi Ben,’ the newly made teenage boy said. ‘I’m Ned. Let’s be mates.’
‘I’m impressed,’ the Doctor murmured.
‘Don’t be,’ Julia said quietly, taking a small device from her labcoat pocket.
It was the remote control unit the Doctor had seen her use to activate the three-dimensional hologram. All movement in the room ceased. One of the girls whom the Doctor had encountered earlier had been in the act of jumping from the roof of the playhouse when Julia put the whole scene on pause. Now the little girl hung motionlessly in the air, three feet above the ground – her knees tucked up beneath her and an expression of wild glee frozen upon her face. The child was a ball of energy just waiting to burst back into life.
The Doctor took in the rest of the frozen faces and bodies in the room. It was as if someone had stopped time, stealing all the noise and activity from 108
the room. The Doctor took the small device from Julia and peered at it.
‘This could take all the fun out of musical statues.’
‘Don’t worry, it couldn’t affect a real person. I’ve only frozen a pre-recorded three-dimensional image. The scene you’ve just witnessed was recorded here last summer.’
The Doctor coughed, politely. ‘I was joking. I know exactly what this machine does. I also know that it is far beyond the technology of even the great-est Earth scientists. And I should know, I’ve thrown together a few of these myself. I suppose the person who made this is also responsible for those chameleon mannequins?’
Julia nodded. ‘This is all Moriah’s work. He’d already begun developing the Toys before I joined the Institute.’
‘Toys?’
Julia smiled, and looked a little embarrassed. ‘Our nickname for the mannequins. They’re genetically engineered therapy instruments. Our aim was to create an artificial yet responsive individual who would facilitate therapeutic relationships with the mentally ill.’
The Doctor considered this. ‘Therapy without therapists. Very clever.’
‘It was a medical revolution!’ Julia exclaimed, the pride evident in her voice.
‘My work with Carl Rogers in the States had been focused on the qualities a therapist needs to engender positive therapeutic change in their patients.
Rogers discovered that those conditions were empathy, unconditional positive regard and genuineness on the part of the therapist. Moriah was able to sew those qualities into the genetic fabric of the Toys. We built our own therapists.’
The Doctor went to put this hands in his pockets, realizing too late that he wasn’t wearing his jacket. Feeling awkward, he locked his fingers behind his back instead. ‘This is different to psychotherapy though, isn’t it?’
‘Yes, it is. Much more. The Toys can empathically sense who the patient needs around them and actually become that person. If a patient is severely emotionally and developmentally damaged and needs to be reparented, the Toy will respond by becoming a mother or father. We had our best successes with patients whose illnesses were triggered by a bereavement. With the Toys, we’ve been able to bring the